Utilization of polymethyl methacrylate and hydroxyapatite composite as biomaterial candidate for porous trabecular dental implant fixture development: A narrative review

Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA) and Hydroxyapatite (HA) utilization as single materials are rarely used as dental implant materials. There is a promising hope by combining these two materials as a dental implant fixture. Nevertheless, there is a limited information of PMMA/HA composite utilization as dental implant material. The aims of this narrative review is to describe the potential of PMMA/HA composite utilization as biomaterial candidate for porous trabecular dental implant fixture development. This narrative review finds the potential of PMMA/HA composite as biomaterial candidate for porous trabecular dental implant. The keywords “Biomaterial,” “Dental Implant,” “Hydroxyapatite,” “Osseointegration,” and “Polymethyl Methacrylate” were used in a web-based search of PubMed, NCBI, Scopus, Science Direct, and Research Gate databases. PMMA is non-toxic, cost-effective, biocompatible, simple to manipulate, and has strong mechanical properties in the oral cavity. Furthermore, osteoblastic cell adhesion, development, and differentiation are aided by the use of HA as a biomaterial to induce bone formation. Nonetheless, due to its rapid absorption and degradation, single HA is seldom used as a dental implant material. Developing dental implant composite has been extensively studied, among them are the fabrication of PMMA/HA. PMMA/HA has fairly good physical characteristics with a compressive strength, good bioaffinity properties, biocompatible with bone cells. The osteoconductivity of HA enhance the bioactivity of the composite materials, thus making the dental implant to have an excellent osseointegration. We propose that there is a possibility of utilization of PMMA/HA composite as biomaterial candidate for porous trabecular dental implant fixture.